I feel like I just sat down to write my weekly blog yesterday and now it's already Sunday again! Time just keeps going by faster and faster and doesn't seem like it's slowing down anytime soon (except for when I'm sitting in class haha). This is going to be a fairly long blog with lots of pictures, so buckle up sweetheart, because I'm about to take you back two months and catch you up with the rest of my life!
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| My last picture with my name tag. |
After our extended vacation after my mission (for more on that visit this website--
www.ericsonamission.blogspot.com), life slowed down a little bit. My first day back in Vegas was kind of weird. I wasn't able to get released until that night, so I ran around town with my parents getting things set up for school immediately, buying the necessities--laptop, phone, etc. and figuring out what else I needed for the upcoming school year. When we got home, I wanted to make the best out of the last moments of my mission, so I called up the missionaries and went with them to their appointments all the way up until I was released that night at 8pm.
Being released was a really emotional experience, and I'm so glad that my family and Sister Squires were able to be there. I tried my best not to cry but that was inevitable. We talked about my mission a lot (obviously) and then President Parker released me, asking my mom to take off my name tags. That moment was the most bittersweet moment of my life. I was extremely sad to leave my mission behind but, at the same time, was so thankful to be with the people I loved most. I was in nothing but tears as my mom took of my name tags, but then was immediately comforted as she and dad embraced me and expressed how proud they were of me. I'm so lucky to have the supportive parents that I have--they are truly irreplaceable.
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| Seeing Farah for the first time at the airport. |
And then my life took off. I spent the next few days catching up with as many people as I could. That weekend I gave my homecoming talk, and I was so blessed to have my best friend Mat drive down with his now fiancé, Libby, just to come see me and come to my homecoming. I also was blessed to have one of my absolute favorite companions, my follow up trainer Jake, drive down the night to come as well. In attendance also was my whole family, my trainer Hayden and his now wife, Margie, and lots, and lots of friends!
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| Mat and I reunited after three years. |
Afterwards we spent the night enjoying company, although I was still a little depressed and missing my mission. It was just good to be back and with everyone. The next morning I drove back up with Jake and his wife to Provo to apply at the MTC and spent the week in Provo which was absolutely amazing. I stayed with Mat and got to spend some time with some old friends and mission buddies in Provo that week. My interview and presentation went really well, and now I'm just waiting for a slot to open in the MTC! I flew back that Thursday just in time to see my whole mom's side of the family that was driving in that night to come spend the weekend with me!
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It was so amazing to be able to see and spend time with family over the summer. Seeing my grandma and other relatives and being able to speak Tagalog to them is so great. I feel like it's the first time my whole life that I've been able to speak and have real conversations with my grandparents and not have to worry if they're understanding my English. The mission has been a blessing in so many ways.
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| Singing Families Can Be Together Forever with my family after my report to the high council. |
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| Corpuz. |
This summer I also started working as a field representative for voter registration for the Romney & Ryan campaign. It was such a new experience for me to get involved in politics, but I absolutely loved it. One of my very best friends, Kelsey (who's dad is running for senate in Nevada) was able to help me get this job which really changed my life and my perspective on many things. I was able to get to know great people in great places and see a whole side of politics that I never thought I would see. The Romney Campaign even offered me a paid internship that I had to turn down because of school, but I was really honored to be able to know they considered having me on their team. I also saw even more blessings from my mission as speaking Tagalog gave me a really strong advantage with that job and was able to reach out in a completely different way that no one else could. I'm still in touch with the Romney campaign and will be going down a few weekends before November 6 to continue to help out.
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| Most random day at work haha. |
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| Kelsey and I at the Romney event coincidently held at our high school! |
The rest of the summer was just all about family. I didn't care much for hanging out with friends (most of them were either in Provo our married anyway), all I wanted was to be with my family. I spent most days with my little brother at the gym or watching him play at gigs around town. Some nights I spent just hanging out with my mom or dad. Between working everyday and getting ready for school, there wasn't much time left anyway and family was my priority.
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| Rockin' the tie Elder Posadas, one of my best friends from the mission, gave me. |
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| Driving home after my first time getting back into the pool! |
The church also put me to work which kept me really busy and focused. My home ward had me teaching Sunday school to the youth which was a bit intimidating but also really fun to be able to spend time with them. And then, at the same time, the singles ward had me teaching in the elders quorum which was great as well. The stake used me as much as they could and had me teach mission preparation a few times and also used me a bit to help other church members register to vote. My parents also bought me an awesome new car to keep up with things that was exactly like my first car--just newer and more awesome-er.
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Playing a bungee game on my first date back!
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| Hiking lone mountain! |
And then in between everything, I did my best to give back to my high school and helped out as much as occasion permitted with the band program and saw a lot of teachers that I grew to love when I was a part of the school a few years back. I was extremely touched my last night before I drove up to BYU when the band put together a huge thank you card and present for all the work my brother and I put in to helping them with their show this year. It definitely made moving back up to school a lot harder.
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| My cross country coach--Coach Atwell |
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| Leaving early Saturday to make it back up to Provo! |
And finally after a transfers stay at home (six weeks), I packed up my things and moved back up here to the great land of Provo. It was all really fast. I came up the day right before school started with my family and got things all settled in and ready to go. My first weekend I didn't do anything but grocery shop with Mat since Libby wasn't back in town and had dinner with my family and my Tagalog teacher that I served with in Quezon City. Monday came, and school was well underway.
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| Dinner at P.F. Chang's with my Tagalog Teacher. |
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| Grocer shoppin' with Mat! |
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| First day of school! |
School has been a whole new ball game coming back from the mission. I undeclared my physiology and developmental biology major before my mission and declared neuroscience but now am in the process of leaning away from neuroscience and broadening my perspective a bit. I realized that my heart really wasn't in science and that it'd be extremely hard to become a doctor if I just didn't enjoy science. So now, I've just been exploring everything from music to business and finding where my heart is.
I made it a point to go home for my 22nd birthday since I haven't been able to celebrate my birthday with my family since I turned 18.
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| Some fun in my Tagalog class. |
Since I've been back at school, I've been back and forth from Vegas nearly every weekend for my birthday and then for my trainer's wedding. Regardless, not complaining.
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| Our awesome condo and my home away from home. |
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| We know how to grocery shop. |
Some of the biggest steps I've made include really pursuing singing from the mission and joining BYUSA, the student association here that could also be considered the student government.
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| Our first committee dinner! |
Joining BYUSA has been by far the best decision I've made since I've come to college. I got the idea from advisement when they told me that involved students do far much better than your average--so I took that and came to BYUSA with my hands ready to work. I'm now an event lead in the activities part of BYUSA heading the "blender event" which I'll talk a little more about in the future.
Also, I've been taking vocal lessons and am in a few classes to take a wack at just doing something that I love. It's been great so far and I practice as much as I can. I went out on a limb and decided to audition for BYU's "Glee" performing group also known as "GLEE-Y-U". More than fifty people later, I made it past the first and second callbacks and made it in! I'm really excited to start singing with them and hope that it will just be my first step in going somewhere with singing.
This past week has been really hectic with the first round of midterms. I feel like I'm drowning in school work and things have really started to pick up with BYUSA and my committee, so life has been a bit more busy than comfortable. I somehow made it back into the Symphonic Band since I've been back at BYU and had my first band concert this past week which made things a bit more chaotic and took a night of studying away from me. The
Instrumental Showcase, however, was amazing and all of my very best friends came. It's hard with performances like these when you don't have family around, but when you have friends who might as well be family, it's not so bad.
And then this weekend I went and saw Jake (my past companion) perform with Vocal Point, was able to go on a little date with a friend of friend last Frida,y and then spent the day in Salt Lake City yesterday for Abe's birthday with all of my BYUSA friends. We went and saw the Imagine Dragons concert which was well worth the time and drive. It was the best day I've had in awhile. Imagine Dragons has really hit it big since they've left from BYU and is also a Vegas band so I definitely endorse them. Oh, and the other day was
National Siblings Day!
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| Jake right in the middle singing his heart out! |
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| The group at the Imagine Dragons concert! I love BYUSA! |
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| This new mall that the church built right by temple square is gorgeous! |
Today was a short but long Sunday. I really wanted to make it up to Ogden to see an old mission friend's homecoming, but got an unexpected call from a member of the high council who extended me the calling of being the first counselor in the elders quorom presidency. Plans had to change and I wasn't able to go, but I'm sure I'll be able to see all of them soon. Spent the rest of the day home-teaching with Brigham and just got back from an amazing dessert party at the Loveridge's who made the most amazing donuts I've ever had.
So that's it, you are completely caught up with my life!
Now the question, why am I spending so much time blogging again?
I'm currently taking a
Writing and Speaking for Business class which has required us to keep an application blog. (I apparently was supposed to start this weeks ago, but misunderstood instructions so I'm starting now!) The purpose of the assignment is to help us to apply the things we've learned in life so that we can (a) remember the experiences we have and (b) not repeat the same mistakes and apply lessons learned. My professor is an absolute genius. So every blog from here on out will have a flat out
So What? and
Now what? section to completely sum up what I feel has been the lesson of the week. Here's the first.
So what?
A couple months back when I came up to Provo to apply for the MTC, I was able to take Libby out for dinner while Mat was in Salt Lake for EMT training. It was a great night to get to know Libby and what an amazing girl she is. Something I noticed that really stuck out to me from our conversation that night is how she consistently commented that everything has a
process. Nearly nothing in life is instantaneous--nothing of worth anyway. That really struck me. I've realized this summer that Libby is right. Finding a major, finding someone to marry, getting good grades, achieving my dreams--life is just a series of processes that we need to go through, and sometimes we get frustrated when these processes don't turn out the way we want them to in the timing that we want them to.
Now what?
The realization of this, first of all, is extremely important and can save a lot of heartache. I've learned that going through these various processes can be really frustrating at times, but something that I've also learned to live this week is just to not give up. To keep pushing anyway. Maybe things won't go the way I want them to (they rarely do anyway) but that's okay. As long as I am actively taking steps in the right direction, things will work out, and they always do. Life is a process and it's making it through each of these tiny little processes everyday that makes us the people that we are. So never give up and push through even what seems to be impossible. Because the beautiful part is, impossible things are happening everyday.
Afterwards we spent the night enjoying company, although I was still a little depressed and missing my mission. It was just good to be back and with everyone. The next morning I drove back up with Jake and his wife to Provo to apply at the MTC and spent the week in Provo which was absolutely amazing. I stayed with Mat and got to spend some time with some old friends and mission buddies in Provo that week. My interview and presentation went really well, and now I'm just waiting for a slot to open in the MTC! I flew back that Thursday just in time to see my whole mom's side of the family that was driving in that night to come spend the weekend with me!
This summer I also started working as a field representative for voter registration for the Romney & Ryan campaign. It was such a new experience for me to get involved in politics, but I absolutely loved it. One of my very best friends, Kelsey (who's dad is running for senate in Nevada) was able to help me get this job which really changed my life and my perspective on many things. I was able to get to know great people in great places and see a whole side of politics that I never thought I would see. The Romney Campaign even offered me a paid internship that I had to turn down because of school, but I was really honored to be able to know they considered having me on their team. I also saw even more blessings from my mission as speaking Tagalog gave me a really strong advantage with that job and was able to reach out in a completely different way that no one else could. I'm still in touch with the Romney campaign and will be going down a few weekends before November 6 to continue to help out.
The rest of the summer was just all about family. I didn't care much for hanging out with friends (most of them were either in Provo our married anyway), all I wanted was to be with my family. I spent most days with my little brother at the gym or watching him play at gigs around town. Some nights I spent just hanging out with my mom or dad. Between working everyday and getting ready for school, there wasn't much time left anyway and family was my priority.
The church also put me to work which kept me really busy and focused. My home ward had me teaching Sunday school to the youth which was a bit intimidating but also really fun to be able to spend time with them. And then, at the same time, the singles ward had me teaching in the elders quorum which was great as well. The stake used me as much as they could and had me teach mission preparation a few times and also used me a bit to help other church members register to vote. My parents also bought me an awesome new car to keep up with things that was exactly like my first car--just newer and more awesome-er.
This past week has been really hectic with the first round of midterms. I feel like I'm drowning in school work and things have really started to pick up with BYUSA and my committee, so life has been a bit more busy than comfortable. I somehow made it back into the Symphonic Band since I've been back at BYU and had my first band concert this past week which made things a bit more chaotic and took a night of studying away from me. The Instrumental Showcase, however, was amazing and all of my very best friends came. It's hard with performances like these when you don't have family around, but when you have friends who might as well be family, it's not so bad.
A couple months back when I came up to Provo to apply for the MTC, I was able to take Libby out for dinner while Mat was in Salt Lake for EMT training. It was a great night to get to know Libby and what an amazing girl she is. Something I noticed that really stuck out to me from our conversation that night is how she consistently commented that everything has a process. Nearly nothing in life is instantaneous--nothing of worth anyway. That really struck me. I've realized this summer that Libby is right. Finding a major, finding someone to marry, getting good grades, achieving my dreams--life is just a series of processes that we need to go through, and sometimes we get frustrated when these processes don't turn out the way we want them to in the timing that we want them to.
Awesome man, love it.
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